Appeals court reinstates Texas governor?s limit on ballot dropboxes

By JOSH GERSTEIN10/13/2020 05:47 AM EDTLink CopiedWhat happened: A federal appeals court has reinstated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order limiting the use of absentee ballot drop boxes to one location per county, regardless of population.Just before midnight Monday Texas time, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a district judge’s preliminary injunction against Abbott’s October 1 directive.AdvertisementFifth Circuit Judge Stuart Duncan said the lower court erred by failing to view the governor’s order as part of a broader initiative aimed at making it easier for Texans to vote amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.“Critics were clearly clueless about the legality of my action & simply voiced prejudicial political opinions,” Abbott wrote in a celebratory tweet.The background: Civil rights groups and Democrats complained that the one-dropbox-location-per-county rule that Abbott abruptly imposed two weeks ago unfairly burdens large urban counties and has the potential to deter voters and create health hazards.However, Duncan said the rule would have a “de minimis” impact on voters, at most.“One strains to see how it burdens voting at all,” wrote Duncan, joined by Judges Don Willett and James Ho. All three judges are appointees of President Donald Trump.